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The popout may look weird to you, but when I first experimented with it, I found it to be the most aesthetically pleasing (to me) version of the sigs I was working on. And could you define what do you mean by "quality?"

Quality of the sig. I noticed it's PNG but it has the quality of a GIF, it looks pixelated much. I think if you had made a 'fake transparency' and saved is a jpg, it would've looked much nicer.
And yeah, the ship IS ugly XD

E2 (escimo and Eps~) is back with something a bit different.
The reason for posting it here (and necroing this thread) is that it is a SotM promotional video.
Hope you guys like it. And as for SotM organizers / site staff, it's free to be used as you see fit. We'll be very happy if it could be put to some use.

E2 (escimo and Eps~) is back with something a bit different.
The reason for posting it here (and necroing this thread) is that it is a SotM promotional video.
Hope you guys like it. And as for SotM organizers / site staff, it's free to be used as you see fit. We'll be very happy if it could be put to some use.

I just want to comment that I loved the monochromatic theme. For the other themes, they were nice, but for this week's theme I was motivated and excited to actually make something. It's not you guys, it's me, since I'm so busy with many things. But I'm glad to be able to push all of that aside to participate once in a while.

I've stickied this thread because in light of the recent "drama" of the last voting results, the time has come to look at some of the ways the contest is run.

Specifically, there needs to be some guidelines set for theme creation, at the very least when it is announced by the creator. For those who do not know what happens "behind the scenes" when a winner decides a theme, this is basically what happens:

Winner is announced.
Winner PM's me the theme idea.
We discuss various aspects of the theme (is it too similar to other themes, will people like it, basic "I want this, but not this" examples, etc.)
Theme is given the go ahead when we both feel that we have a clear idea of what the theme will be about.
Theme is announced, people rejoice, much merry making is had by all.

Here's where the problem comes in - what happens when the theme creator tries a more creative or complex theme? How much can we entrust to the interpretation of the contestant before it seems like an entry didn't follow the theme?

To that end, we need to establish a clear set of guidelines so that the creator can communicate their idea properly without worrying that he or she must constantly police every entry to ensure that the theme is being followed correctly. This will hopefully allow the themes to be more creative and limit the confusion that sometimes follows it.

This post is to answer some questions I've received about my actions in the Voting Thread.

1. It has come to my attention that P.G.'s entry also breaks the rules of the theme, if I were to apply the reasoning that was used for ~Eps entry (too many colors). This would mean that if I were to disqualify both entries, or reduce them in rank, that I would be the winner of the contest.

What happened that things got this messed up? Well it wasn't out of bias, nor was it laziness, or favoritism. Here's what happened - Human error.

In both Eps and P.G.'s entries, the extra colors (due to the subdued nature of the theme itself) weren't immediately apparent. Both myself and escimo missed the extra colors, it's as simple as that. By the time they were noticed, voting was well underway. In fact it wasn't noticed that there was an extra color in P.G.'s entry until after the contest was over.

There is no in depth review process that goes on during the entry thread. Each entry is not held to the utmost scrutiny to make sure it is following every rule. That would be exhausting for what is essentially volunteer work. The theme creator has their inputs, KiNA compiles a list using the Final Entry tag, and I give the list a look over to make sure nothing obvious stands out in the entries. If something does stand out, I PM the contestant and try to work something out before the voting thread goes up.

In this case it was just human error and I've already apologized for it. My "solution" to demote Eps to second and PG to first was because I felt that Eps losing first place was enough of a "consequence" for breaking the theme while still recognizing his efforts and the votes he gained. I know it felt unfair to remove the winning title so I extended the ability to partake in the theme creation process as a sort of consolation and apology for my mistake.

However, due to the fact that P.G.'s entry also broke the rules of the theme as originally outlined, my solution backfired. I've pondered what to do about this for the last few days, and I think the only fair solution is to leave next months theme creation up to the entire community.

I don't want to claim the title of winner, because I don't want to hear whines of my supposed bias. Do I defer to fourth place? Really it just becomes a mess of "what is right" at that point. The only fair solution is to let the community decide what they want to do for next month. In short, there is no one winner in last months contest. That is the fairest solution in my mind. No one is penalized for rule breaking, and everyone has a say in what they think the next months theme should be.

In the end, this contest is first and foremost about fun and improving your skills. I know at least a few of you felt challenged and had fun last month. That's the real prize. Getting votes, picking a theme, those are nice but the real reward is the journey from idea to final entry. It sounds cheesy I know, but it's the truth.

2. The SOTM will be undergoing a review. As the contest has progressed over the last year and a half, it is important to sometimes look back and learn from our successes and mistakes. The first thing on the plate is theme creation and rules. There are other aspects that will follow, and as always if there are any comments, questions, or concerns about any aspect of the contest feel free to bring them up in this thread.

In my humble opinion I believe the confusion every month's because of the theme so I'd suggest a more careful selection of the theme.
Since this contest is for every member of AS forums u cannot know who has good,medium or bad skills in graphic designing so the theme must be not smt complicated or smt really easy.
Another suggestion would be making a team of at least 10 people and when the winner is announced he/she should PM Solace the possible themes he/she'd like for the next month and then after discussing with the team coming up with something good.
Hope I wasn't confusing
EDIT; was typing the same time with Solace so I didn't see his message

so basically, we just need restrictions and some guidelines for setting up a theme?

Essentially yes. My hope is to have the community work together so that a set of guidelines can be formed to make it easier for theme creators to communicate their ideas and make it easier for contestants to understand exactly what the boundaries are when they are making their entries. Hopefully this will allow more creative themes while also limiting the problems that crop up when contestants have a harder time understanding the rules of the theme because the theme isn't so cut and dry as something like "make a signature that includes panties".

2. The SOTM will be undergoing a review. As the contest has progressed over the last year and a half, it is important to sometimes look back and learn from our successes and mistakes. The first thing on the plate is theme creation and rules. There are other aspects that will follow, and as always if there are any comments, questions, or concerns about any aspect of the contest feel free to bring them up in this thread.

so the next SOTM's gonna be postponed?
or not?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solace

Essentially yes. My hope is to have the community work together so that a set of guidelines can be formed to make it easier for theme creators to communicate their ideas and make it easier for contestants to understand exactly what the boundaries are when they are making their entries. Hopefully this will allow more creative themes while also limiting the problems that crop up when contestants have a harder time understanding the rules of the theme because the theme isn't so cut and dry as something like "make a signature that includes panties".

well if majority agrees to change some rules and add some restrictions then it's fine by me

oh and I recommend that the theme should be explained at the first post of the SOTM- making phase, rather than the link so it'll be easy to find too
if not it's still okay